The Poetry of Democracy
Democracy is its own form of poetry. So every Monday, you’ll see here at Democracy of Hope a democracy-themed poem from poet Zachary Suri. Today, however, to celebrate our launch we are sharing two poems from Zachary: “Sighing” on the just-concluded election for the European Parliament; and, “Leipzig on D-Day”, honoring the 80th anniversary of the Normandy invasion that decisively helped liberate the world from Nazism.
Sighing
By Zachary Suri Europe, I hear you sighing in the torn placards That dotted your lampposts and window sills One face after another torn and mangled Some even in the flesh Europe, I hear you sighing, you say all is lost You shout over yourself, scream two different Slogans at the same time, same place, shouting Breathlessly in the same way Europe, I hear you are bursting at the seams That there are too many of us coming And not enough going, but it seems to me Less like an explosion waiting to happen And more like a slow death, from the inside Europe, I hear you sighing, it is loud And no longer subtle, as if you were Trying to say, be careful or we will Tear it all down for a laugh
In Leipzig on D-Day
By Zachary Suri I walk from the bus stop in Leipzig today With a kippah, my house keys, and an urge to pray Today I remember as I often do not To ask what those boys on the cliffs must have thought They too were nineteen and some were younger Their hands were bloodied, their legs torn asunder— And here so far from that billowing sea Is the final city their country set free We meanwhile were dying, killed one by one In the camps now meadows that bask in the sun In the park on the outskirts of town by the lake In the final moments for nobody’s sake— But here by the rivers that flow to the sea Is the final city where we were set free My brothers and sisters were loaded on trains Tortured in prison cells, shot in the brains The monuments covered in banners of shame Old streets bore new and villainous names— And here so far from the treacherous sea Is the final city my country set free And today I walk as many could not Eighty years to the day when the battle was fought They scaled the cliffs that rose from the sea So this city and I could always be free